Such containers can for example be used as bottles for liquids, for example drinks. The containers, for example bottles, can be made of a transparent or translucent material, for example glass or preferably a translucent plastic, for example PET. It is however also conceivable for the containers to be made of other materials and able to be filled with other fillings.
The handling and transporting machine serves to supply the containers, for example PET bottles in the drinks industry, to a container handling plant for example a drinks filling plant, a labelling plant or also an inspection device, wherein the handling and transporting machine can also be designed as one of said devices or also as a supply star. The containers are held in their top region, in the case of PET bottles on a peripheral collar, and gripped below the bottle opening, i.e. in the neck region, by gripper elements.
Such gripper elements are e.g. known as mechanically acting gripper clamps, wherein the gripping force can be generated mechanically or also by means of magnets.
DE 10 2005 014 838 A1 concerns a clamp for holding vessels, in particular bottles, in vessel transporting and handling machines, with at least two clamping arms which are mobile in relation to each other for opening and closing, wherein each clamping arm has a gripper arm and at least one clamping arm has a counter arm. The clamping arm comprising the gripper arm and counter arm is formed as one piece, wherein the gripper arm is designed form-stable and the gripper arm form-elastic. Thus a clamp is provided for holding vessels which allows the necessary centring of the vessels, wherein at the same time vessel diameter tolerances can be compensated.
DE 10 2005 041 929 A1 also concerns a gripper for containers, in particular for bottles in container transporting systems or container handling machines, with at least two gripper arms mobile in relation to each other which are moved in the gripping direction by magnetically cooperating permanent magnets. These permanent magnets which simultaneously repel and attract each other are formed and arranged mobile to each other due to the working movement of the gripper such that in the gripping direction, the sum of the repulsion and attraction forces acting on the gripper arms remains substantially constant within a predetermined gripping range covering various container gripping sizes.
An apparatus for gripping containers and in particular bottles with a carrier, a first gripper device arranged on the carrier with a first gripper element mobile in the direction of a peripheral edge of the container in order to grip the container on its outer periphery, is disclosed in DE 10 2007 037 228 A1. The apparatus has a second gripper device arranged on the carrier which can be introduced at least in portions into a mouth piece of the container, wherein the second gripper device has a second gripper element which is mobile in the direction of an inner periphery of the container to grip the container from the inside. With such a device in particular bottles with clip-lock closures can be gripped. Depending on the position of the clip-lock closure, either the first gripper element or the second gripper element engages.
DE 198 08 058 A1 discloses a bottle gripper or a gripper device for bottles with two gripper arms which can be moved into a holding or releasing position via a control cam, in that the control cam cooperates with a contact surface formed on each gripper arm. The contact surface is part of an elastic cushion which is arranged on the respective gripper arm.
DE 198 30 456 B4 discloses a gripper device for bottles which has proved successful in practice with two gripper arms which are swivelable relative to each other by means of a drive device between a gripping position holding the bottles and a spread position releasing the bottles, wherein the drive device at a drive part acting on the gripper arms applies a predetermined constant adjustment travel. The gripper arms are advantageously coupled with the drive part, interposing at least one elastically deformable buffer element, wherein the drive part engages in a recess of a gripper arm leaving an interposed gap and wherein the buffer element at least partly fills this gap.
German utility model DE 20 2005 002 924 U1 also discloses a clamp gripper for a vessel transport system, in particular for a bottle transport system with two gripper arms, wherein here too a force accumulator is provided with at least one pair of mutually repelling permanent magnets.
According to the figures of SU 1007968 A, this also concerns a magnetically acting gripper system wherein a magnet with matching polarity is introduced into another magnet so that here a gripper area is activated because of the magnetic repulsion.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,386,609 B1 also concerns a gripper device where here too magnets are provided. However this gripper device does not grip containers but washers. DE 26 57 992 discloses a gripper device which is arranged on calibration presses.
Known containers in particular PET bottles have an external thread about their mouth region on which a screw cap for example can be screwed. Rebound closures are also conceivable. In order to indicate to the consumer that the PET bottle has been adequately sealed i.e. not yet opened before first use, the PET bottles or the screw closures have so-called first opening guarantees. If the first opening guarantee is intact, the consumer can assume that the container or its closure has not yet been opened, that the container is completely filled and that the contents are uncontaminated.
The first opening guarantee of a screw cap or the guarantee strip engages in a lock groove arranged below the screw thread.
It is to be expected that in future, more PET bottles will be used without a lock groove because this can save weight and hence substantial material costs. The purpose of the lock groove must then be fulfilled by a ring flange known as a neck ring, where the guarantee strip, i.e. the first opening guarantee, protrudes over the neck ring in such a design.
The neck ring can for example serve to move the bottles on suitable suspension devices in the sales area, wherein the main function of the neck ring can be regarded as serving for transport in handling and/or transporting machines for containers. If now for weight saving reasons and hence cost saving reasons the neck ring is omitted so that bottles without neck rings are present, the existing lock groove would have to assume the function of the neck ring.
If PET bottles are designed for example without lock groove or for example without neck ring, for bottle handling only a plane is available on which the gripper elements can hold the bottles.